Apple & Cinnamon Scones

Apple & Cinnamon Scones, gorgeously light and fluffy, are a wonderful teatime treat. With plenty of cinnamon flavour, they’re studded with pieces of tangy apple and finished with an optional honey glaze.

Simply delicious served warm, split and buttered. But even better with clotted or whipped cream plus apple fruit butter, honey or blackberry jam.

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Although my Classic Sultana Scones recipe is among my most popular, I’ve been rather neglectful in offering alternative flavours of this British teatime sweet favourite. I’ve done lots of variations of my Very Cheesy Cheese Scones, e.g. Roasted Pepper, Salami & Cheese Scones and Cheese, Chorizo & Chive Scones.

But now I plan to share more equally delicious, sweet scone recipes. And I’m so excited about my latest: Apple & Cinnamon Scones.

APPLE SEASON

As I write, Autumn is just a few weeks away. Which means the start of the main British apple season.

Looking at the small number of homegrown apples available in supermarkets, it’s hard to believe that Britain once led the world in the number of varieties it grew. If, during the season, there’s an Apple Day event near you, I highly recommend you go along. You’ll most likely be able to sample some of those traditional varieties and celebrate the wonderful, versatile apple in all sorts of tasty ways. Read about my visit to an Apple Fest here.

Luckily, the British grown apple I recommend for making my Apple & Cinnamon Scones is widely available for much of the year.

The Bramley apple is a type of cooking apple. I think it’s better for my scones than ‘eating’ or dessert apples as it’s tarter. This makes a pleasing contrast to the sweet and warmly spicy cinnamon I’ve paired it with. Bramleys also keep more of their flavour once cooked. Although they’re known for breaking down during cooking (making Bramleys ideal for things like apple sauce), my scones are baked in just 15 minutes which is perfect for tender apple pieces that still hold their shape.

The skin on Bramleys is quite tough though. So I peel it before coring and cutting into dice approximately 5 – 8 mm square. Because I don’t want the apple to discolour, I prepare it just before adding it to the rest of the ingredients.

INGREDIENTS FOR APPLE & CINNAMON SCONES

To make 8 – 9 Apple & Cinnamon Scones you’ll need one large Bramley apple or two smaller ones. Around 250 – 280 grams before peeling and coring is about right.

The other ingredients you’ll need are as follows.

• Self-raising flour. I prefer white flour for scones, but you could replace some with wholemeal if you like.
• Ground cinnamon. I like a good strong cinnamon flavour so add 2 rounded teaspoonfuls. I use one that’s labelled ‘sweet cinnamon’ which is actually cassia rather than true cinnamon, but I prefer it.
• Baking powder. Although the flour already includes raising agents, this gives an extra boost.
• Salt. Enhances the flavour of the other ingredients.
• Butter. For flavour, texture and binding.
• Sugar. I’ve used ordinary white caster sugar. But you could experiment with others e.g. soft light brown.
• Yogurt or alternative. I use yogurt as the liquid in all my scones as it makes them light and fluffy. If you can find it, you could use buttermilk. I don’t recommend using all milk though as it probably isn’t acidic enough to get the raising agents going. However, half yogurt and half milk should be fine.
• Honey (optional). Apple, cinnamon and honey is a great combination. So, unless you want to brush the unbaked scones with extra yogurt and sprinkle with sugar, brush on honey when they’re just out of the oven.

TIPS FOR THE BEST HOMEMADE SCONES

You’ll find a recipe card at the end of this post with ingredient amounts and full instructions: Jump to Recipe here. But I recommend you read the rest of the post first for tips and step-by-step images.

Even if you’ve never made scones before, follow my tips and you shouldn’t go wrong.

1. Self-raising flour, baking powder etc. can lose their power quickly. So, always make sure they’re well within their best before date. And, even when they are, packets opened for several months may result in a poorer rise so don’t leave them hanging around.
2. Once the liquid has been added the raising agents will be activated, so work as quick as you reasonably can and get the scones in the oven while they’re at their peak.
3. To keep scones light, handle the dough as little and as gently as possible.
4. Roll out the dough to around 3 cm thickness. This should ensure a nice, tall scone. The weight of apples in this recipe inhibits rise a little bit, so it’s even more important not to roll thinly.

HOW TO MAKE APPLE & CINNAMON SCONES

Start by sifting the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Then rub in the butter with your fingertips. The sugar goes in next, followed by the diced apple.

The yogurt, or your alternative, is gradually stirred in as you start forming a dough that’s soft but not wet. Different flours absorb varying amounts of liquid, so you may not need all the 150 ml stated in the recipe card. Or you may need a little more.

When it’s almost come together, tip out onto a lightly floured worksurface and very gently knead into a smooth-ish dough. Now roll out to a thickness of 3 centimetres and cut out the first scones. Gently bring together the scraps, reroll and cut out more. Continue until all the dough is used up. Using a 7 cm diameter cutter, you should get 8 scones, plus maybe a ninth that’s slightly smaller in diameter.

They’ll take 13 – 15 minutes to cook. If you want to give them an initial boost then, when you preheat the oven, put the baking tray in there to heat up too. Even if you’ve used all white flour, don’t be surprised if the scones look darker than usual. That’s just down to the cinnamon.

As soon as they’re done, I transfer the scones to a wire rack and brush over some honey. I love the combination with apple and cinnamo, plus it gives an attractively shiny top. Note that it will gradually be absorbed if the scones aren’t eaten immediately though.

As mentioned above, if you don’t want the honey topping you can brush on a little extra yogurt or buttermilk and sprinkle with sugar before baking.

SERVING, STORING, REHEATING

Like all scones, Apple & Cinnamon Scones are best served warm. At a minimum, you’ll want to split and spread with butter. Oh, and if you don’t know already then always pull warm scones apart rather than cutting with a knife: this will keep their light and fluffy interiors intact.

For an extra special teatime treat, I think you can’t beat scones with clotted or Chantilly cream and a sweet preserve. Here I’ve gone for Chantilly (double cream whipped with a little sugar and vanilla extract) and homemade Apple Butter. Apple butter isn’t dairy at all, but a jam-like fruity spread often flavoured with spices. Mine is made with Bramleys, has cloves, cinnamon, plus cider for a lovely tang.

Sometimes, instead of apple butter, I love a drizzle of honey over the butter or cream. Another great pairing with the apple flavour would be blackberry jam.

If you’re not going to eat all the scones within 2 days, then they’re best frozen. You can reheat in a microwave or low oven, or even an air fryer. I find that a couple of minutes on the ‘max crisp’ function keeps them fluffy inside while giving a firmness to the outside. Not exactly the same as freshly baked (turning over half way helps), but not bad at all.

EASY, DELICIOUS APPLE & CINNAMON SCONES

Although I associate these easy and delicious scones with Autumn, there’s really no reason you can’t make them at any time of year. Bramley apples are almost always available. Or perhaps you’ll be lucky enough to find a more unusual variety. You could also experiment with eating or dessert apples. Maybe see how a tart Granny Smith or a nutty Russet apple holds up.

Whether you eat Apple & Cinnamon Scones as a sweet treat with a cuppa or part of a more elaborate afternoon or cream tea, I think you’ll enjoy the fresh apple taste combined with warmly spicy cinnamon.

If you’ve made this recipe, I’d love to know what you thought and what you ate the scones with. Please leave a comment and rating.

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Apple & Cinnamon Scones

Light, fluffy scones flavoured with cinnamon, studded with pieces of tangy apple and finished with an optional honey glaze.

Delicious split and spread with butter, or clotted/whipped cream plus apple fruit butter, honey or blackberry jam.

Course Snack, Bread, Cake

Cuisine British

Keyword baking, autumn, easy

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 8 - 9 scones

Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

• 350 g self-raising flour plus extra for rolling out
• 2 rounded tsp ground cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1 large pinch salt
• 90 g butter
• 100 g caster sugar
• 1 large Bramley apple approx. 250 - 280 g before preparing
• 150 ml plain yogurt OR equal parts yogurt & milk, OR buttermilk

Optional (see Recipe Notes for alternative)

• 1 tbsp honey for brushing on the baked scones

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C /180° Fan /Gas 6 / 400° F.

2. If your baking tray isn't non-stick, line it with baking paper or lightly grease it with extra butter.

   Tip. Unless you're greasing it with butter, try preheating the tray (minus baking paper) while the oven's heating up. This should give your scones a boost and help them rise more.

3. Stir together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt then sift into a large mixing bowl.

   Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

   Stir in the sugar.

4. Peel and core the Bramley apple then cut into small dice approx. 5 - 8 mm square.

   Stir into the flour mixture.

5. Gradually stir in enough of the yogurt or your chosen liquid to start forming a dough that's soft but not wet: different flours absorb varying amounts of liquid so you may not need all the 150ml or you may need a little more.

   Tip onto a lightly floured worksurface and very gently knead into a smooth-ish dough.

6. Lightly sprinkle the top with flour then roll out approximately 3 cm thick: due to the weight of apples the scones may not rise as high as some so it's best to start off with them quite tall.

   Cut out the scones, gently bringing together the scraps and re-rolling to make more. A 7 cm cutter should make 8 - 9 scones.

7. Place the scones on the baking tray and bake until risen and deep golden brown (13 - 15 min). Note that they'll be darker than regular scones due to the cinnamon.

   Transfer to a wire rack and brush with honey (if necessary, melt the honey first to make brushing easier). Leave to cool slightly.

8. Serve warm, split and spread with butter or with clotted/whipped cream plus apple fruit butter, honey, or blackberry jam.

   Tip: pulling apart rather than cutting with a knife keeps the fluffy texture inside.

   Best eaten within 2 days. If not using straight away, cool completely before storing in an airtight container or freezing.

   Can be lightly reheated in a microwave, low oven, or air fryer.

Recipe Notes

Alternative topping. Instead of brushing the baked scones with honey when they come out of the oven, just before putting them in you can brush over a little more yogurt (or whichever liquid you substituted in the recipe) and sprinkle with sugar.

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